Peter V’s Blues Train Never Running Out Of Time

Peter V‘s Blues Train is a band that has been building quite a following over the pond and could well make a splash over here with their latest release, Running Out of Time. Now in his early 50s, Peter Veteska (hence Peter V) was born in Manhattan. A self-taught musician influenced by Derek And The Dominos, Alvin Lee and The Allman Brothers, he began playing professionally at age 15 but became disillusioned by the music business at 21. After being a builder, he didn’t pick his guitar up again until nine years ago when, I guess, he felt that things just might be different.

The opener, Stay On Track, sets the tone with a sound reminiscent of early Chicago blues supplemented by a saxophone that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Organ fills expand the sound around Peter’s guitar. He gets a lovely tone out of the guitar, which reinforces the early blues feel. A cover of Richard Ray Farrell’s Cherry On The Cream is up next and, with the piano giving a jumping juke joint feel alongside the sax and guitar, they make it their own. The saxophone of Danny Walsh interlocks with Peter’s guitar on the intro to the true blues of Buzzed Busted & Blue. The sax works well here and reminds me of early Taste when Rory Gallagher, who was a mean saxophonist, used it to add extra colour to his tunes. Peter then puts in a lovely paced and played solo. The blues standard Worried Life Blues, first recorded in 1941 by Big Maceo (although it is probably based on the earlier Sleepy John Estes song, Someday Baby Blues) is brought bang up to date next with subtle guitar and vibrato to punctuate the lyrics. His solo is the perfect guide to blues soloing and its styling reminds me of Gary Moore. Running Out Of Time sounds like an Albert King riff adopted and adapted by the band and, with the keyboard rattling behind it, it a damn good song. The lyrics bear close listening to with humour fed into a song about a separation. Time To Collect is an instrumental seeped in the funky side of the blues. Keys and horns to the fore initially and then a great guitar solo in which he travels the fretboard without histrionics. Youngblood is the Pomus/Lieber/Stoller composition made famous by The Coasters. Peter takes the minor blues chord structure and makes it into a new classic: in other words recognisable, but different in an interesting way. The acoustic blues of Time For Me To Go is perfectly placed in the running order to illustrate that Peter and the band are not one trick, electric ponies. It’s a toe-tapping classic blues structure and, were it not for the differences in voices, this would be Bernie Marsden style acoustic blues-rock. Another slow-blues, Freedom, has that Gary Moore blues feel to it, the guitar is so lyrical as Peter plays around the lyrics. Lead vocal duties pass to blues singer, Kelley Dewkett for a part acoustic cover of Bonnie Raitt’s hit Love Me Like A Man. Her vocals are strong and, obviously, fit the song better than Peter’s would. We get another lovely acoustic solo too. Lay Down My Friend closes the album and was written as a tribute to Blues Hall Of Fame member, Michael Packer who died in May 2017 and was a close friend and mentor for Peter. This is pure blues-rock and a mid-paced track of high quality.

In summary, this is a fairly diverse collection of quality blues, with strong playing from every member of the band. I can imagine that their live shows would be something to see too. Well worth a listen if you like Moore, Marsden and the like.